The year 2025 will be an important one for democracies worldwide: several dozen countries are due to hold national elections in a world profoundly transformed by artificial intelligence (AI). Recent cases – notably in Romania, Brazil, Gabon and the United States – illustrate the need for action to protect electoral integrity as the proliferation of fake news and growing use of deepfakes – in particular – are affecting public confidence and the quality of democratic debate. To meet these challenges, academic experts from the North and the South have proposed actions aimed at supporting our institutions to better guard against the negative effects and risks generated by AI interference on elections and democratic processes.To meet these challenges, academic experts from the North and the South have proposed actions aimed at supporting our institutions to better guard against the negative effects and risks generated by AI interference on elections and democratic processes.

Researchers with the Texas A&M University School of Public Health surveyed more than 6,100 respondents. Their study is thought to be the first to assess the public’s perceptions of the role of the nation’s interior border checkpoints as gatekeepers to health care access.

About The Study: This cohort study of hospitalized adults identified inequities related to race and rurality in health care–associated infections (HAIs) and adverse outcomes from HAIs. These findings suggest that factors such as structural racism and disinvestment in rural communities may be associated with individual HAI risk and post-HAI outcomes. Future work to further understand the reasons underpinning these disparities and methods to address structural factors through policy and process changes are critical to eliminate health inequities. 

The State of the Nation Project, a bipartisan collaboration of former appointees and advisors from the past five presidential administrations, released its first comprehensive "State of the Nation" report to shed light on how the United States is doing in key areas — the economy, education, health, the environment, civic engagement, trust in major institutions — compared to historical trends and peer countries. 

In a recent article published in the Journal of Marketing, researchers from the University of Vaasa (Finland), Arizona State University (United States), and Hanken School of Economics (Finland) offer a new perspective on how immersive services, such as residental care, affect consumer agency. Their discovery expands marketing theory and offers actionable implications for organizations to improve the service experiences of their customers. The researchers define immersive service as a service that consumers are embedded in and surrounded by, in the sense that their life experience is within the service and, in great part, constructed by it for some period of time. Consumers frequently experience immersive service in healthcare (e.g., hospital stays, residential care), education (e.g., school/university attendance) or hospitality (e.g., air travel, resorts) among others.